It is already mid-June now. In more than a month, I have to embark on a voyage to Europe. It will take at least ten months to go there. The stall is getting bigger and bigger, and I really can't take care of my butts. The main reason is that there are too few people who can use it. In the past few years, I have trained all naval talents, and there are no management talents at all, and I can't train them. I can only pull the general from the slut. This time, he threw down a big strait in Jinhewan and hurried to see Wennan in Mingzhou, just to ask Wennan if he wants to really become an official of the Jinhe Empire. It would be great if he could come over to help him. Relying on his relationship, he could fool many management talents from the Song Dynasty. These people cannot be in power, but they can do specific work.

But how to fool Wen Nan, a person who was influenced by imperial power, and gave up his emperor to help him, was really unsure. Not to mention Wen Nan, he didn't even dare to make a promise to convince Luo Youde. However, Xu Liangzhi was easier. This person had no national concept and was a very thorough nanny. He had no ideals, no thoughts, and was devoted to managing his family. He was a big emperor, not as big as his family.

Hong Tao hadn't come to Shandong Peninsula for several years and did not find any abnormalities along the way. However, when the fleet bypassed the tip of the peninsula and drove west along the 38th degree north latitude for a while, the Jinhe's lookout hand issued an alarm. More than a dozen enemy ships were found in front of him. According to the lookout hand, these ships looked like salmon-grade, but the masts were lower and the sails were triangular.

"Terminal 11? Could it be the fleet to Jinzhou... collect the wing sails and the pivotal top sails, follow them, pay attention to measuring their speed throughout the journey!" Because the opponent's mast was low and he had not found his fleet, Hong Tao decided not to disturb them at first. Now there are still ten hours before sunset, so he just used this time to carefully observe the performance of the Mongolian version of salmon-level.

Five hours later, the speed and seaworthiness characteristics of the Mongolian version of the salmon-class were basically seen through by the lookout. This ship is basically a salmon-class replica. Even the steady-state plate may be equipped. It has good stability in navigation in the waves. When encountering crosswinds, it can tilt the hull to a certain angle. Generally speaking, it is well imitated. However, it still has many unsatisfactory aspects, such as the mast is too short, only more than ten meters high, and it is not a composite sail on it. It is a spinnaker with a water, so the power is not enough. Even if the Mongolian boatman stretched the hull slightly and became a little thinner, the speed was still very poor. When the sail was crosswinds, it seemed that it could not have paddlings. No matter how many details it was, it could not see from a distance.

"It's really hard for them. It's really hard to imitate it so much in such a short time. Those sailing tools and lengthened ship shapes must be masterpieces of the Arabs. Maybe those big Song mercenaries who bought our ships were also used by the Mongolians, and they might have been bought. Lao Kong, let our ships go over, remember. Just fire empty cannons, don't hit them, you must pay attention to safety." To be honest, Hong Tao admires the Mongolian Empire's ability to learn and quickly turn it into his own. The Mongolian version of the salmon-class ship is really good in appearance. Whether there are any drawings that Cixi betrayed or not, they have exceeded his expectations. However, looking at the appearance is not enough to understand their full performance, and they have to look at their real combat power. This has to be close to the trick.

Originally, Hong Tao wanted to use a salmon-class cargo ship as bait, but after everyone discussed it together, it was found that the plan was flawed. A ship might not be enough to attract the opponent's attention. If it cannot launch an attack, it will be difficult for the opponent to deal with it with all his strength. Maybe the other party will try to catch the alive, which will become a chase battle. It is meaningless. Hong Tao thinks everyone is right. Since it is about to test it, the more real it is, the better it is. Don't look for a cargo ship as bait. Just let the entire fleet go together, just like having to fight a naval battle. Only in this way can the opponent tighten every nerve and use all the strength to eat milk to deal with it.

When the Jinhe ships raised their sails with seven dragon shark-class warships, it took only more than an hour to chase them to less than seven nautical miles from the Mongolian Navy fleet. From this distance, you can already see the lookout on the other side’s mast with a telescope. The other side obviously also discovered the fleet that suddenly appeared behind them. The way they conveyed messages to each other was very interesting. First, a firework was shot high from the mast of the last ship, and then each ship began to launch such a big sky-storm, and the sea became lively in an instant.

"Left rudder 5, let's lean on the lower head." Hong Tao saw in the telescope that there were two ships in the Mongolian Navy fleet. The other ships were lined up to fight, but there were no people on the decks of the two ships. It was not that there was no one, but that they were all concentrated on the bow and stern, and they couldn't see clearly what they were doing.

Two hours later, the Jinhe River had already chased from the port side of the Mongolian navy, and was slowly correcting its course to the right, and approaching the Mongolian fleet bit by bit. Although the two sides were less than 500 meters apart and the appearance of the sailors on the deck could be seen in the telescope, Hong Tao still did not understand what mechanisms there were on the two ships. The thing was installed lower than the side of the ship, and it was impossible to see it in front of the ship. The lookout hand on the mast could be seen, but he could not tell Hong Tao what was installed on the deck. Because the thing was covered by wooden boards, there was a person standing next to it. The lookout hand only confirmed Hong Tao's suspicion that something was indeed strange on the two ships.

"Right rudder 3, approaching 200 meters!" Hong Tao was so stingy, as if it was itchy as scratching. What exactly is it? For a person with a very curious mind, the more he didn't let him see something, the more he wanted to see it, and even took a little risk. Two hundred meters is already a dangerous distance in the era of naval guns. Once the other party really has a cannon, the first round of shooting may hit it. However, Hong Tao did not think that the Mongolian naval master had naval guns, because he did not see a cannon on the wall of the ship, nor did he see a cannon cart on the side of the ship. If the weight of the naval gun is not placed in advance, it would be without it. In fact, the salmon-class built by Zhenzhou Shipyard has been simplified in many places, and basically lost the ability to load naval guns. The structural strength is not enough. It may be okay to play with 80 cannons, and even 135 cannons are not possible.

"Your Majesty, let the ship behind you lean on it. You will be watching from a distance..." Kong Pei stopped Hong Tao's risky behavior in time. Things that he didn't know were the most dangerous. This is what Hong Tao often talked about and educated others. Now it's someone else's turn to educate him.

"Okay, let them be careful about the two ships at the end. Other ships are full of powerful crossbows, and they don't know what they are." Hong Tao did not stubbornly this time, nor did he pretend to be a leader. Although people are born equal, their value does vary. If other captains died in battle, it would not have much impact on Jinhewan. If they died, Jinhewan would probably be in big trouble.

"Dong...Dong...Dong...Dong!" The two Jiaosha-class warships separated from the fleet were just around 200 meters away from the Mongolian fleet, and suddenly four loud noises shocked Hong Tao!

"They have guns! The caliber is not small!" The two ships on the last Mongolian fleet were firing. Although they could not see the appearance of the cannons, judging from the smoke rising from their deck, there were quite a few loads. Looking at the splashes of the shells, Hong Tao first determined a parameter of the other cannon, which was larger than his 155 cannon!

"It seems that there are only four doors, which are installed on the bow and stern of the ship. Why should they be installed on the deck?" Kong Pei was also startled by the sound of cannons, wishing to stuff the telescope into his eyes and stare at the two ships hard. Unfortunately, he couldn't see anything except a few balls of smoke.

"I'm not very clear either. Tell our lookouts to pay close attention to the cannons on their decks. If you can't see clearly, get closer!" Hong Tao knew as much as Kong Pei, and he couldn't think of why the Mongolian navy installed the cannons on the deck and had one on the bow and stern of the ship. This is not the middle line layout of later generations. Unfortunately, playing the middle line layout on a sailboat is destined to be hopeless. The caliber of the gun at this time cannot be too large, and the shooting accuracy is also very bad. It can only be compensated by the shooting density.

"So fast, five shots in a quarter of an hour! Their artillery is almost the same as ours!" A few minutes later, the second round of artillery came again. Kong Pei kept staring at the hourglass on the rudder platform, quickly calculated the opponent's shooting frequency, and then became a little uneasy. The old gunners in the Empire Fleet who had been in service for several years can only reach this level at this level, but the Mongolian gunners actually got to this level as soon as they came up. It was very scary!

"It's not that their gunners are well trained, but that their guns are easier to load... Let the No. 4 ship fire in an air round to set off the atmosphere." Hong Tao had a deeper understanding of artillery than Kong Pei. He seemed to have gained something from the opponent's second round of artillery attacks, but he was not sure, so he had to continue watching a few more rounds. Just letting the opponent fire the gunners, it would definitely be inappropriate if he didn't fight back. Putting a few air cannons can not only test the training quality of the opponent's sailors and gunners, but also make this test appear more realistic.

After receiving the shooting order, Ship 4 opened the gun door on the starboard side and fired for a round of ping-pong. The scene was very lively, but no shells were fired because there were no shells in the barrel, only ******* and wooden blocks. But the other party didn't know that it was an empty shot. When he heard the sound of cannons, the people on the deck immediately squatted down and hid behind the ship's side, very well-trained. Moreover, the shelling did not affect their loading speed much. Soon the third round of shelling came again. Unlike the previous two times, this shelling won cheers.
Chapter completed!