Struggle in the Steam Age

At 4:10 in the morning, Lawrence and the others finally came to the rear of an island by taking advantage of various terrains along the coast. And a little more than a nautical mile in front of this island is the anchorage of the pirates. It may be because of the laziness and chaotic management of the other party, or it may be because they did not expect that someone would raid them, so these pirates did not install any observation posts other than the observation post on the mast.

Even this small island, which can observe the outer sea and the whole situation inside the island, has not set up any protective posts. There is only a simple observation magic that was controlled by Nora at the first time to provide the most basic peripheral security.

"Okay, now let me report on the investigation just now." In the cabin of the Enterprise, Lawrence took out a map of the harbor just drawn by the book charm and pointed at it with the light from the lantern on the top of the cabin. Besides Knight Joseph, besides the table in front of him, there were several people sent by his father and the Church of Agriculture.

After knowing the specific identity of the other party, Lawrence was a little worried that even if he added Nora, he might not be the opponent of the silver-ranked black priest with some powerful magic props. So before leaving, he made a special trip to two churches to rescue soldiers.

Lawrence had expected his father, Mr. Lambert, to follow him, but what he didn't expect was the agricultural druid who had just broken through to become a silver-ranked agricultural druid and the former captain who was not very good at fighting. The silver-level agricultural church priests joined this commando.

In other words, there are four silver-level spellcasters on board, even if they are only a small level short, they should be able to suppress the most troublesome black priest on the other side.

And now these extraordinary people, the gunner and the first mate on the ship all listened carefully to the little puppet Nora standing on the table explaining in detail the results of the reconnaissance just now.

"—Although the other party didn't send a few people to investigate, the various scouts they set up around them can be said to be very densely arranged. At least our ship can't silently close the distance between the two sides until our artillery is effective. Within the shooting distance. In other words, as long as we attack, we will definitely trigger the magic alarms arranged by the opponent."

"This is not a big problem." The first officer said, "After all, our ship is so big, and there is not much fog on the sea today. It is already the limit to be able to touch this place without being discovered by the other party. According to my According to the judgment of an old seaman, if there is no accident, our ship will be discovered by the other party as soon as it leaves the hidden range of this island."

"That's right." Lawrence nodded. After all, his current ship is not that kind of small ship, but a steam sail gunship of several hundred tons. The possibility of the other party turning a blind eye at this distance is basically zero.

Therefore, the final battle plan was quickly drawn up. That is to let the steam engine on the Enterprise start to pressurize now, and when the pressure is full, charge to the opponent's flagship at full speed, and try to kill the leader of this group of pirates as soon as possible.

"Let's go." Ten minutes later, when the pressure reached the limit, Lawrence gave an order through the communication copper pipe in the cab. After receiving the order, the crew in the engine room immediately moved the handle on the side of the steam engine.

In an instant, the high-temperature and high-pressure steam began to push the piston of the steam engine to start running, and then drove the ship's bearings and propellers to rotate rapidly to stir the sea water. Immediately, a large number of white foams appeared at the tail of the ship after the propellers stirred the water, which looked like water. Like boiled.

At the same time, the sails of the Enterprise were quickly lowered with the help of the steam windlass. Under the combined effect of the adjusted sails and propellers, the entire sailboat rushed out of the hiding place on the side of the island near the open sea like an arrow off the string, and then rushed straight to the anchorage of the three pirate ships.

The other party obviously spotted the Enterprise rushing straight towards them at the first time. Even standing in the captain's cabin of the Enterprise, Lawrence and the others could hear the ringing of the bell echoing on the sea.

But for the pirates, it was too late to defend after discovering Lawrence and the others. The distance of more than one nautical mile can be crossed in only seven or eight minutes for a ship like the Enterprise. However, the boilers of these pirate ships were simply cold because they had been moored before, and there was no time to start the ships at this time.

"Boom——" The pirate ship facing the battlefield fired a cannonball at Lawrence and the others, but because the ship was an old-fashioned retired warship that the pirates didn't know where to buy, the ball was fired in a hurry. There is no way for the Type shell to hit the fast-moving Enterprise. It just created a few water splashes tens of meters away from the Enterprise.

At this time, Lawrence summoned the phantoms of several aquatic monsters through Bai Zetu in his soul. Then let them dive into the water from the other side of the boat with a big guy.

"Squeak—it's not a big problem, there is no need to adjust the course." The Ratman lookout standing on the observation deck at the top of the mast shouted loudly after observing where the enemy shells fell. "Now it's just a matter of going full speed ahead."

"Boom—" Just when the Enterprise rushed to a place less than 500 meters away from the opponent, the flagship where the black priest was located finally raised half of its sails, allowing his ship to adjust its direction and the artillery gained a valuable shooting range, and then The shells that had just been loaded into the barrel were fired at the Enterprise.

The artillery on the two new pirate ships both use the latest rifled guns, so the hit rate is much higher than before. Although the first batch of shells failed to hit Lawrence's ship due to the rush of shooting and the unsatisfactory shooting range, the shells that fell very close to the ship still made everyone on board feel nervous.

After these shells fell into the water, the splashing waves even wet the deck, and the whistling sound of the shells flying through the air and the dull explosion sound in the water after the explosion did not let everyone on board feel these personally. The power of the shells, not to mention the explosive power of the gunpowder carried inside these shells, the kinetic energy carried by them alone can easily tear apart everything that blocks his flight path.

Even if Lawrence is an extraordinary person, he can only avoid the shells by looking at the direction the artillery is aiming at, at least for an extraordinary person of his level, he can bear large-caliber bullets or some small-caliber single-shot shells. Already the limit. A heavy gun with a size of 100mm or more like this is definitely unbearable.

Fortunately, although the pirates have gained enough shooting range, the distance between the two sides can be said to be very close. Therefore, when the Enterprise was struggling to avoid the second round of firing artillery, the distance between her and the pirate ships had been reduced to less than 20 meters.

"Hold on, hold on, hold on—" On the various gun positions on the deck, the gunner in command stared at the pirate ship that was getting bigger and bigger in his field of vision with a serious face. At this time, they had bypassed the old sailboat that was blocked on the outermost side and quickly approached the two steam sailboats. The few skaven helping out at the gun positions could even see through their dark vision the panic on the faces of the sailors on the pirate ship who were loading and adjusting the guns.

"Launch!" When the Enterprise came to the gap between the two steam sailboats, the gunner finally gave the order to launch. The eight cannons on the ship immediately spit shells at the two pirate ships on both sides of the ship.

At a distance of less than 20 meters, none of the shells missed the target. And these heavy artillery loaded with new explosives easily created a huge breach in the two pirate ships, and at the same time caused a serious fire.

"Get ready to join the gang." Just as the Enterprise quickly approached the pirate ship's flagship. Knight Joseph, who was in charge of jumping gangs, pulled out his sword and shouted to the commandos, but before he started jumping gangs, a gray ray suddenly appeared from the pirate flagship and flew towards him.