New Ming Empire mixed in America

However, Leonid's goal was not achieved. The reply from the Xinming Empire warship that blocked them was the same as before, which was that passage through the Golden Gate Strait was prohibited.

"Commander, these Easterners are really ungrateful. Do you want to just break in?"

The adjutant's words made Leonid hesitate. After receiving the news that the British fleet had set off from Peru, he set off with the fleet from the Queen Charlotte Islands.

He didn't expect that the speed of the British fleet would be so slow, causing him to be unable to advance or retreat.

When they set out, they only resupplied once at Victoria Freeport. Now that there was not much food in the fleet, it would be unreasonable not to enter the port for resupply.

But now if you ignore the other party's warning, a conflict is likely to occur.

He raised his telescope and re-observed the two strange warships parked off the coast of San Francisco. Leonid looked more and more familiar.

This kind of warship protected by heavy armor and with a chimney erected on the deck... isn't this a floating turret?

To say which warship impressed Tsarist Russia the most during the Crimean War, it must have been the mobile fort.

These heavily armored and slow-moving warships once gave Tsarist Russia's coastal defense batteries a nightmare.

Therefore, after these two warships appeared in the open sea, the Tsarist Russian fleet became a lot more honest.

"We can't break in by force. Did you see the forts on both sides of the bay? If we break in forcefully, we will suffer a lot of losses."

Leonid shook his head, rejected the adjutant's suggestion, and at the same time ordered the flag bearer to send a signal requesting supplies to the other party again.

They also promised to send only logistics ships into the port, while their warships would withdraw some distance away and wait.

This time there was no rejection, but when the supply ship entered the port, there were still two armored gunboats following it all the way.

"Are we just going to stay on the sea and wait? We came to help these Easterners, but now they are treating us like this!"

The adjutant quickly rattled off a long list of complaints in a dissatisfied tone.

"Listen to me, we let the fleet appear here without sending an envoy in advance, so what these Easterners did was correct."

The commander's words made the adjutant couldn't help but look at him twice.

Is this guy out of his mind? Otherwise, why would he say such strange things?

"We just need to wait with peace of mind. After the fleet with the British destroys the maritime power of the Easterners, those Easterners will beg us to go in. By then... hum..."

Having said this, he once again raised his telescope and looked at the two armored warships.

He has decided that after the Easterners ask for them, he will ask for these two warships.

Tsarist Russia is not a kind person who does good deeds anonymously. How can they mediate the war with them without charging some interest?

The sky was completely dark at this time. After more than three hours of naval battle, Song He's fleet also suffered considerable losses.

An armored warship had two masts broken by cannonballs during the exchange of bombardments, and a large hole was ripped open in the bow of the ship by the cannonballs shattering the armor.

If Song He hadn't provided timely support, this armored battleship might have been sunk.

"There is still a big gap between the command capabilities of our naval officers and those of Dai Ying."

On the deck, Song He looked at the time and sighed to his adjutant Cheng Yuanliang.

To be honest, if it weren't for the advantage of the battleships, there would have been very few of our own battleships left in the melee just now.

Even so, almost all warships are now damaged, especially the structures on the deck, such as masts, which are even more seriously damaged.

Relying on the advantage of speed, during the mobile battle just now, the fleet led by Song He was almost surrounded by the opponent several times, which made Song He feel frustrated.

In terms of command, there is a clear gap between him and the commanders of the British fleet, especially when the large fleet is fighting.

"I heard that His Majesty has started to prepare for the naval school. Then we will have time to go and study."

Cheng Yuanliang was open-minded. He was originally from a wild background, so he didn't feel any shame in going to school for further studies.

But Song He was in a bit of a dilemma. He was now the supreme commander of the navy of the Xinming Empire. He had not experienced hundreds of battles, but he had also experienced many large and small naval battles.

Now that he is asked to go to the academy for further study, he is really reluctant to let go.

"Commander, something is wrong with the enemy fleet!"

Following the report coming from the walkie-talkie, Song He raised the telescope again.

It's already dark now, so I'm using a night vision telescope. Because the number is limited, it's only given to senior officers on each battleship.

Through the telescope, one could vaguely see that many of the warships in the British fleet had their lights turned off.

After seeing this scene, Song He ordered his fleet to get closer. Now he finally saw clearly what the other side was doing.

"Hey, you are really talented." Seeing the other party's actions, Song He couldn't help but shout out.

Because with the help of a night vision telescope, he could clearly see that the other party was using small boats to build a wooden frame that was almost the same width and height as the battleship.

To put it bluntly, it is a small boat with a vertical log standing on it, and then several pieces of wood are nailed horizontally to the vertical log.

Next it was time for the showmanship. They placed a kerosene lamp on the wooden frame of the boat so that it looked similar to the light emitted by a battleship from a distance.

If he hadn't relied on a telescope that was almost cheating, he might have actually been able to mistake those wooden frames for battleships.

"Sir, can we really fool those Orientals?"

On the small boat, several sailors were busy under the leadership of the boatswain.

After nailing the last plank to the shelf, the boatswain had time to reply:

"Definitely. From a distance, this shelf is almost exactly the same as the lights on the stern of a battleship."

"Besides, not all warships will evacuate. The Dutch and Argentinian warships on the periphery will not evacuate. With them here, by the time the Easterners react, we have already arrived at the Mexican port."

After finishing speaking, the boatswain took the kerosene lamp handed by his companion, hung it up, and lit it.

After finishing, several people swam back to their battleship along the rope.

What they said was right. This time they not only wanted to deceive Song He, but also their own friendly forces.

If there were no real battleships left here, they were afraid that Song He would discover something unusual here.

It took them several hours to make the Easterners not dare to launch an attack on the middle of the fleet easily again, and that was why they were doing this now.

As for the Netherlands, the remaining three warships in the periphery, and Argentina's remaining battleships, they are all chess pieces that they will abandon.

Although the remaining fourth-level ship withdrew from the battlefield, the steam gunboats that followed it were still there.

Not to mention Argentina and the Netherlands, these guys always stayed around the flagship during the melee.

If not for the attack by Song He's second formation, Argentina might have lost only one warship of the two countries.

Almost all of their warships are injured now. If they are evacuated with them, they will be easily discovered and they will be overtaken before they can run too far. It is better to let them make a small contribution to the greatness of Great Britain.

At this time, these warships that did not belong to the British had been commanded by the expedition fleet's flagship to set up defenses far away from the fleet's main formation.

Speaking of setting up defenses, the captains of these warships were afraid that they would get in the way, so they were sent to the edge of the battlefield to wait for the opportunity.

These captains agreed easily. After all, their defense position was away from the front where Song He's fleet was attacking, so it was easy for them to nod in agreement.

If they knew what the British warships were doing now, they would probably have started cursing.

Especially the Argentine navy, in order to lick the British father, they dispatched almost all their warships. There are only four steamships equipped with 18 guns in their hometown, and eight sailing gunboats equipped with 15 guns remain behind.

The remaining two fourth-level ships with 50 guns each are their main battleships. In addition, there are 12 sailing gunboats equipped with 15 guns.

Now one fourth-class ship has been sunk, and only 9 of the 12 sail gunboats are left.

If the British warships were not still here, the Argentine navy might have escaped long ago.

This time the Argentine Navy has been severely damaged. The navy was originally inferior to their archrival Chile, and now it has lost another battleship. The fleet commander still doesn’t know how to explain to Congress when he returns home.

However, the Dutch's losses were greater than theirs.

The two third-class ships were all injured at this time, and one of them was almost half-sinked. More than half of the artillery and supplies were abandoned to barely let the battleship float on the sea.

The steam gunboats suffered even more heavy losses. There were eight of them when they arrived, but now only three are still wandering around the flagship.

Not to mention taking three, there were only a few neat gunboats mixed in the Dutch formation.

As for Dai Ying, the losses were even more heavy. One second-class ship, four third-class ships were sunk, and the remaining fourth-class ships responsible for protecting the logistics fleet and other gunboats converted from merchant ships totaled more than ten.

This does not include those steam gunboats and logistics ships.

The remaining two second-level ships are also injured, and the two third-level ships have multiple leaks. These two warships will be abandoned later, and the naval soldiers on them will be diverted to work on other warships.

In fact, what makes the current fleet commander heartbroken is the captured Black Prince.

The cost of more than 37.8 pounds would make any Admiral of the Admiralty go crazy with heartache.

But fortunately, the Black Prince was captured before he took over the fleet, otherwise he would definitely have no good harvest after returning.

"What an idiot. I really don't know why the Admiralty chose him as commander in the first place!"

General Browning, who had just taken over the command, cursed in the cabin.

Thanks to his predecessor's shitty command ability, he now has to help wipe the other party's butt. If the fleet suffers serious losses, he will not be able to escape being blamed after he returns.