Chapter 1072

“The intelligence is not wrong. The Chinese Empire really has firearms that can fire continuously. This is too terrifying.”

On the deck, Corbán was also paying attention to the imperial fleet’s situation. When he noticed the weapons continuously firing on the deck, his heart immediately sank.

“The Chinese Empire is too terrifying. As long as they have such weapons, we can only be slaughtered on the battlefield.” Philine said in a serious voice.

Corbán nodded. “That is why we must obtain their advanced weapons at all costs and send them back home to be replicated.”

As he was speaking, he suddenly noticed that the flagship of the imperial fleet’s light had suddenly gone out. He said happily, “Excellent! Their commander is on this warship. Have the soldiers focus their attack on this warship. As long as their flagship is captured, they will fall into chaos.”

Philine also saw it at this time. He looked at Corbán with some admiration. This famous Spanish naval general was indeed worthy of being called Spain’s maritime fortress.

Despite such a disadvantage, they were still fighting a close battle, which was a very rare thing.

“All gunners, attack the sixth warship from the left on the southwest side!” Philine gave the order.

“Boom boom boom…”

A volley of fire suddenly erupted after the order was given. One explosive shell after another flew directly towards the King-Class ironclad.

At the same time, the other warships also began to concentrate their firepower on the King-Class ironclad, and under the cover of the warships’ artillery fire, the small boats in the sea quickly approached the King-Class.

Corbán looked at this scene, and a cold sneer appeared on his lips. Then his gaze fell on an ironclad in the southeast direction. This ironclad was on the edge of the imperial fleet.

He said, “Immediately send soldiers to attack the first warship on the right. Now that their flagship is being besieged by us, the other warships will surely rush to its rescue and neglect the warship on the edge. Let’s capture that ironclad!”

“What a brilliant move!” Philine said excitedly. He had the signalman with the lantern on the edge of the deck give another order, directing a portion of the small boats to approach the east side.

On the King-Class, the marines were continuously suffering casualties under the enemy’s shelling. After the searchlight went out, it seemed that all of the enemy’s firepower was concentrated on the King-Class. The enemy’s explosive shells were constantly being thrown onto the deck.

The dense attack caused heavy casualties among the marines on the warship.

“General, it’s too dangerous here. You must return to the cabin.” Liu Chen said to Yue Yun. The King-Class was the core of the ironclads, and Yue Yun was the core of the King-Class. If something happened to Yue Yun, this naval battle would be a disastrous defeat even if they won.

Yue Yun’s expression was cold. He said, “I thought that once the ironclads came out, the Qingzhou fleet could act without restraint. This naval battle has truly taught us a lesson. His Majesty was right: we should underestimate the enemy strategically, but we must take them seriously tactically.”

With that, he said to Liu Chen, “Order the King-Class to change direction. We will use the maneuverability of the steam warships to annihilate the enemy warships. We cannot be too presumptuous. In a battle with such a disparity in numbers, we are at a great disadvantage.”

While the two were talking, the soldiers brought up the spare searchlight. After some installation, the searchlight lit up again.

Liu Chen looked at the more than sixty burning sailing warships on the sea. Although the enemy’s wooden boats were approaching them, the enemy’s losses in this bombardment were also very heavy. After all, the ironclads’ durability was much greater than that of the wooden sailing warships.

Nodding, he immediately had the searchlight give the order for the fleet to change formation. This time, they would annihilate the enemy warships while sailing.

And as for those small wooden boats, they would just let them float in the sea.

After the order was given, the ironclad fleet immediately set sail again. Using their speed advantage, they always kept a distance from the small wooden boats, but also stayed within the range of the machine guns.

This kind of “kiting” tactic quickly made the soldiers on the small boats exhausted. The steam warships relied on the power of steam engines, while they relied on manpower.

Corbán’s face fell after he noticed the imperial fleet’s change. Because it was a surprise attack, the imperial warships were originally anchored, which was advantageous for them to get close.

But now, their commander had clearly realized this problem, so the warships all weighed anchor and set sail.

And what was most infuriating was that although these ironclads appeared clumsy, they were not slow. If they were sailing warships, their small boats might still be able to catch up, but these steel monsters were too fast. The small boats could not catch up to them at all and were instead being “kited” by them.

Philine’s excited expression also disappeared. They were now in a very awkward situation, which was that they could only take a beating and not fight back.

“Boom boom boom…”

The moving ironclads continuously fired at the sailing warships. The rotating turrets allowed them to attack the enemy from any direction.

“Sixty-five ships, seventy ships, eighty ships…” Each time an enemy warship was hit, Liu Chen would report the number to Yue Yun.

Having escaped the entanglement of the small boats, their attack became more and more effortless. The balance of the war once again tipped in their favor.

“Don’t let a single one escape. Send ten warships to flank them and blockade the mouth of the Ganges River.” Yue Yun said.

After his order was given, ten ironclads broke away from the fleet and sailed straight for the mouth of the Ganges River.

The movements of the imperial fleet were all seen by Corbán. He slowly put down his binoculars and sighed heavily. “It’s not that my command was ineffective, but that the imperial fleet’s ironclads are too powerful. If we don’t have ironclads, the era of European maritime hegemony will probably be gone forever.”

Although Philine was very unwilling to accept this, he had no choice but to bow his head in the face of the eighty burning sailing warships in the sea. He now understood what Corbán meant.

“Retreat!” Corbán gave the final order. The imperial warships’ attack did not stop, and their fleet was still continuously taking losses. Once the mouth of the Ganges River was blockaded by the imperial warships, they would have nowhere to escape. With the speed of the ironclads, they would be sunk one by one.

“Yes.” Philine’s voice was trembling a little.

This order was very cruel, because it meant that they would be abandoning the soldiers in the small boats in the sea. But he had no choice but to carry it out. It was better to save a portion of the warships for future use than to have the entire army annihilated.

Thinking of this, he had the signalman give the order to retreat. The captains of the seventy remaining warships had long been waiting for this order. Now, they were sailing towards the mouth of the Ganges River at all costs.

On the King-Class, Yue Yun showed a victorious smile. To him, the remaining warships were nothing but food on a plate. After this war, the shipping lane from India to Europe would be ruled by the imperial navy.

Even if they hid in the Ganges River, they would ultimately not be able to escape their control.

“Starting tomorrow, the warships will cruise in groups of three along the coast of India, sinking any supply ships from Europe.”