"Your Highness, the prince is facing the wind to the west, and our ship is turning very slowly." Hearing the prince's order, the first mate next to him hesitated a little.

"The opponent's ship is fast, his steering is flexible, his cannons are powerful and he is unwilling to approach us, so he can only lengthen the front line, compress their activity space, and increase the difficulty of their control distance. As long as they make mistakes, our chance will come." The prince did not scold the first mate who did not obey the order, but told him the reason for doing so.

The first time we met, Hong Tao let the other party taste the taste of real naval battles, and it was not just a waste of time, but had to pay the tuition. The three sailboats that had lost their combat capabilities were the first tuition. The tuition was very worthwhile, because just when Hong Tao turned around with the fleet, the other party's formation also changed. He no longer used prominent arrows to wait for himself to cut, but pulled the formation very long and turned into a slightly concave arc, pushing it flat towards him.

"Keep the course and speed at full speed!" Hong Tao has seen what the other party is going to do. They are waiting for themselves to get in and use the quantity to make up for the disadvantage of speed.

As long as the course of their fleet is slightly off, they will get closer and closer to them, and the vanguard fleet to the west will turn to the north, and then use the crosswind to block their way. Even if their ships are fast, they are not as fast as the gap. If they are not careful, the ships at the tail of their fleet will be cut off and surrounded by them. Melee and melee are exactly what they want. They must not give it to them and fight. Can't I run?

If this naval battle was made into a movie, the box office would probably be very bleak, because there was no direct contact since the sun just rose in the morning until the sun set. The two fleets had already traveled more than a hundred kilometers north from the mouth of the Rhine River, and the Flanders Hanseatic fleet's naval guns had not been fired much.

The seven flying fish-like hybrid sail warships can always find the corner of the fleet, and then use their speed to sweep across from the bow, and shoot at the sailboat with a deadly cannon at a close distance. As long as the hull is hit, in such a big storm, no matter whether it is near the waterline or not, it will cause great trouble to sail. Maybe the hole will be torn open by the waves.

The other nearby warships could only watch the seven ships pass by beyond the range. At most, they would throw some wood and boards down to their companions who had abandoned the ship and fell into the water, and they would not even dare to get close to rescue them. The big waves would bring the people and objects that fell into the water, and then they would slap them heavily on the hull. At this time, getting closer is not to save people, but to harm people. Of course, not getting closer is useless. At most, the poor sailors would not be allowed to be killed immediately, but their ending is still dead. The water temperature in the North Sea is too low in winter.

At this point, most of the captains of Flanders Hanseatics understood that this was a battle that would never be won. They could only watch the other party rage in front of them until they knocked out the shells, or it was dark and no one could see anyone. But they could not retreat, and no commander could give this order, otherwise he would become a joke in the palaces of all Europe after he returned, and the name would even be passed on to Byzantines and the Great Cannibals. For nobles who had no reputation and no status, it would be better to die than to shame the family.

At this time, the energetic Prince Albert III had taken off his mail and threw his sword on the deck. Even the cannon could not reach the opponent. It would be better to expect a tornado to blow away the opponent's warships suddenly.

He believed that he had learned the essence of the Eastern Naval Battle, and Lord Jiang, who has always been honest, also commented so. But today's experience made the Principality know what shamelessness is. People who can invent this tactic and design warships and cannons that match this tactic are so shameless. God probably has never seen such a person!

The only thing we can do now is to slowly take back all the new warships with strong combat power, and then let those merchant ships and old North Sea warships act as cannon fodder in front. Although this is not a reputation, it is much better than letting others use up their main force bit by bit.

The Earl of Nassau is a living example. He did not listen to his orders and insisted on rushing forward with the forward fleet. What happened? In less than three hours, only half of the fleet belonging to the Earl of Nassau were left, and they were all merchant ships. The scum commander on the opposite side seemed to know which ship was of higher value, and then concentrated his firepower to specifically attack these ships. He fought not to sink at one time. He went back half a circle and continued to fight, and all of them were sunk.

"I hate the sun!" After finally letting the bright sun in the sky, which was almost the same as the other party's flag, Albert III quickly issued an order to return, and asked the main fleet of Flanders Hanseatics led by him to retreat first, and the other earls brought the ships to the palace. Now they don't care about too much reputation. It is the greatest victory and honor to bring the remaining twenty new warships back to the Port of Behenopzom safely.

After noon, Hong Tao saw the trick of the commander on the opposite side. He was using these broken merchant ships to consume his ammunition. It doesn’t matter, he has fewer guns but more shells. Reduce the frequency and number of fires, and it’s over without a single shot. Even if he has all the shells, there are four armed cargo ships in the south. They are big-bellied men and cannon shells are enough. Not only are there naval battles, but also mortar shells. I think he is satisfied with naval battles? If you don’t blow up all your ports and shipyards, you can catch all the craftsmen and skilled workers, and write the word Hong upside down!

"Want to run? Grandma! Chase me and go around from the west side of them. Don't spend shells on these broken ships, just hit three masts, and no one less mast is allowed to fire!" Seeing that the enemy's fleet was about to evacuate as the sky gradually became dark, Hong Tao certainly refused. When to fight and stop in the sea, he had to decide. Finally, he had to make you so far. Want to go back steadily? It's easy to go back!

Night is not a forbidden area for sailing warships. As long as there is a mast light, Hong Tao can still carry out limited attacks. This is the experience summarized by countless lives during the Three Kingdoms Naval War. The method is very simple. First surpass the enemy's fleet, then block them, and aim at the mast light with a tail cannon. If the moonlight is bright enough, you can add a side cannon halfway. Even if it cannot hit the opponent, it will affect their course.

Such a large fleet is still night sailing and is still bombarded. As long as a timid captain wants to turn or turn off the mast light, the good show will be staged. Let's go to play with your own ship. After a collision, panic will spread like a plague. If there is no effective night command system, this chaos cannot be saved and can only intensify and eventually become a commandless big flee, with more than half of the ships that can safely return to the port.

Hong Tao did not think that these European sailors could be much better than those of the Mongolian Empire. They had been tortured all day long, tired, hungry and afraid. The home port was ahead. Who wouldn't want to escape from this hellish torture as soon as possible? Who would want to stay on the sea in order of formation, and slowly sailed with the shells that could not figure out when they could send themselves and the ship to the bottom of the sea? If so, Hong Tao would immediately negotiate and had to ask the other commander for advice on how he trained people into machines. This topic was too advanced.

A 100-kilometer route paved with human lives and shipboards! This is what later generations describe the final outcome of this naval battle.

After the Flanders Hanseatic fleet retreated and fled, nearly a hundred ships were panicked. No one could conduct effective command and communication, and no one wanted to command and communicate. They had only one mind, that is, to return to the port as soon as possible and escape from this cannibalistic water.

Under this kind of thinking, many people will be overly sensitive. They will treat all low-shaped ships as enemies. If a mast light appears in front of them, they will be suspected of being enemies. Even a stray bullet falls near the hull, which will immediately cause two adjacent ships to start suspicion of each other. The result is that they use artillery to attack each other, venting all the depression and fear that have accumulated for a day.

As for whom they are beating, they are actually not very concerned. Just like drinking to drown their sorrows, they know that getting drunk will not help, but they seem to be able to be relieved after being unconscious. This is also a weakness in human nature, escape!

Some smart captains chose to leave the large army and approach the coast, trying to navigate with the shadowy coastline under the moonlight, and by the way, they could also shake off the gloomy shells. Although sailing near the coastline at night is a dangerous activity that requires technology and luck, it seems that sailing among a group of companions who may collide and shoot at each other at any time is not much safe.

"Let them go, we don't need to fight with them. Such a strong west wind will blow many ships onto the reefs and smash them into pieces. Don't expect to destroy others with just a few ships. This idea is unrealistic." The lookout hand on the ship discovered that some enemy ships were approaching the coastline for a long time. Of course, Carl was not idle either. He was reminding Hong Tao to pay attention to those ships that were taking risks. Hong Tao was unwilling to really fight to the death. In such weather, he was not a god, and he had to die for a lifetime.

"What a pity, these are the essence of Europe. Most of them were destroyed by you at one time. I wonder if they still have the courage to face the sea again in the future." Carl was very conflicted. He did not have any sense of belonging to the country like Cixi, Matini and others. From beginning to end, he regarded the land of Europe as his motherland. Seeing that the forces that could threaten him were destroyed, he began to be pretentious and regretted them.

To be continued.
Chapter completed!