The third section lures the enemy to his death

  The Qinglong and Jinyong ships almost simultaneously raised the flag embroidered with black shark, which was still taught by the Hongmao gang of foreign devils to the Heishayu gang. It is said that European pirates have their own flags, and the most commonly used one is the black-and-white skull flag, which has almost become a common symbol of pirates. However, the imaginative and creative Chinese people are not willing to hang such unpoetic things.

  The overt provocation did not enrage the young British Royal Navy Lieutenant Henry, as a professionally trained military man, he still stuck to his own ideas. He was here for demonstration and negotiation, with 13 Chinese pirates in hand to be returned to the Black Shark Gang, of course, on the condition that needed to be negotiated.

  The "Sydney" rounded the western point of Devils Island and turned into the south side where there was a wharf.

  "Fire! The British may be attacking the dock!" Long Jianming made a judgment. This was an extremely normal judgment, as the captain of the pirates, he could not imagine that this huge warship came here with not too hostile intentions! And all the pirates would not have imagined that such a thing would happen. A powerful battleship entered the pirate's heartland, its purpose can be guessed!

  The "Pom-Pom" guns on the Ching Lung fired, and the spherical shells flew towards the British warships. However, these outdated products fell into the sea far from the warships, splashing up 10-odd meters high water columns.

  "Foolish yellow people!" Captain Henry snorted through his nose. He was furious at the pirate ship's blatant provocation, and also extremely contemptuous! "A bunch of ignorant long-haired men, daring to fire at a warship of the British Empire Royal Navy, do they think this is a merchant ship?"

  "Captain, sir, don't you think we should fire a few rounds according to plan? It's not bad to scare these wretched Chinese people. I see that the long wall they're building on the island is a great target for our cannons!" Major Green said nonchalantly, rubbing his face where the whiskey-induced acne was appearing again. His fondness for whiskey had left him with a complexion worse than a pirate's, which made this officer in his 30s very irritable - in his opinion, pirates were easier to deal with than pimples!

  "Our purpose is not that, Mr. Green. Let's waste two rounds of ammunition firing at the sea surface near the dock instead!" Major Henry apparently meant to hand over the command of the artillery to Green, and Captain Sir didn't want to waste too much time on such a small matter.

  "Ah, all right! Let me give the order." Green's hand finally left his face, but a bright red blood was already flowing from there.

  From top to bottom, the British, who were quite careless, fired two 8-inch shells from their main gun, and the nearly hundred-kilogram shell exploded on the water's surface, creating a mist of water and two tall, thick columns of water. The young captain was clearly lacking in experience in dealing directly with pirates, and he completely misjudged human psychology! He thought that with his large warship and cannons, and with 13 captives in hand, the pirates would soon surrender, or at least send a representative bearing a white flag to see him. He forgot about cultural differences between East and West, he neglected the courtesy one should show when standing at someone else's doorstep, and he didn't think of sending someone to make contact first...

  The pirates on the island and on the ships did not think that these two cannonballs were just a demonstration, they took the explosion of the cannonballs as a signal for the British to attack! The Qinglong and Jinyu ships accelerated towards the British warship, one on the left and one on the right! The distance had to be shortened, to the point where it was possible to hit the British with the ship's cannons! Although the British could have hit the two sailing ships at a distance of 8000 yards, this went against naval tradition. In general, naval battles, officers liked to engage in mutual cannon fire at a distance of around 5000 yards. If time had gone back 10 years, there might also have been hand-to-hand combat scenes.

  In fact, from the captain down to the ordinary seaman, the British had no regard for pirate vessels.

  "Hah! Captain, I'm going to see a wonderful sight! Those two poor wooden sailing ships will bravely crash into our ironclad warship. Oh! Strange Chinese people, always making some jokes that aren't funny at all! I really can't understand what's going on in their minds under those black hairs!" Major Greene finally stopped the bleeding from his scratched face with a handkerchief. He glanced at the sailing ships speeding towards them from afar, looked at the bloodstains on the handkerchief, and tapped his fingers rhythmically on the steering gear cover.

  "Mr. Green, their guns have a maximum range of 3000 yards, pass my order, when the pirate ship approaches our vessel at 3500 yards, fire a warning shot! When approaching to 3000 yards, sink them with cannon!" Colonel Henry didn't want conflict, there were still dozens of British citizens in the hands of the pirates, he didn't want to harm these poor hostages. He was here to rescue the hostages, first and foremost, he had to consider their situation.

  Long Jianming was operating the 75mm cannon reinstalled on the bow of the ship. He had to hit the warship's forward gun turret or other key parts! Only in this way could he attract the enemy to his direction and ensure the safety of his brothers on the island.

  The Golden Dragon first turned its head, it was done according to the boss's intention after receiving the signal from the Blue Dragon. The two ships did not attract enough interest from the foreigners, and the bombardment only required one cannon of the Blue Dragon, which was sufficient, while the other cannons had too small a range and could not play any role, so there was no need for both ships to go together. Even if the Blue Dragon was sunk, there would still be the Golden Dragon to continue the task of luring the enemy...

  He Jingfeng stood at the top of the cliff, looking through binoculars at everything happening on the sea to the south. She could hardly bear the pressure brought by such tension and worry, but if anyone asked her to put down the binoculars now, she would definitely give them a cold look! Her mind was all on the Qinglong ship, which was approaching the British warship at full speed, where her groom was. Every yard of distance added a bit of burden to her heart...

  Getting closer and closer!

  The British were still uncertain of the intentions of this sailing vessel. Was it here to negotiate? Then why the flag!?! Was it here to fight? Don't make me laugh!

  Everyone on the Qinglong was tense, prepared for a massive explosion above their heads. They pulled open their jackets or cut-off long shirts to reveal their muscular arms and bronze chests. Long Jianming still wore that white vest, so conspicuous on the entire Qinglong! Every brother could see clearly: The boss was at the bow, the boss was closest to the British, the boss was going to attack the British warship!

  5000 meters...

  "Xiao Wu, which direction is the wind coming from?!" Long Jianming asked without turning his head, the sea breeze carrying his voice to those behind him.

  "Southeast!" Zhang Xiaowu roared back.

  "Sailors, helmsmen prepare! Two cannon shots and turn southeast! Zhang, brother, the shells!" Long Jianming had already taken aim at the forward main gun turret of the "Sydney", that twin eight-inch gun turret was an easiest recognizable target.

  He slammed the breech shut after loading the shell and focused his eyes on Long Jianming's raised hand, ready to pull the lanyard as soon as it fell.

  "Fall!" The familiar action with pirate brothers was exactly the same, and that hand seemed to be chopping down heavily like a sharp battle knife.

  The "Peng" shell was fired, and almost at the same time, the ejector brought out the yellowish shell casing, Zhang Qiu stuffed a new shell into the barrel again.

  A deafening crash shook the forecastle of the Sydney, and the explosion was so loud that it even made Lieutenant Hirst's hand on the bridge jerk violently. The first shell did not hit its intended target but exploded just aft of the gun turret, cutting down six or seven British sailors on the forecastle with flying shrapnel. This had a more devastating effect than hitting the turret itself.

  Several hundred tons of heavy turret armor wrapped around the front, about 200mm thick, ordinary killing shells like 75mm have no effect on this thing at all, and can only scratch a little paint. Exploding behind the weakly protected back of the turret, well, the lethal effect is much better.

  "Pong", the second shell was fired in less than 10 seconds, and at the same time, Qinglong began to turn around, quickly accelerating away with the strong southeast wind.

  The second shell flew over 4,000 yards and burst on the water about abreast of the starboard bow of Sydney. The only effect was a shower of splinters and a beautiful flash.

  The British woke up from being shelled!

  "Blast it all! Unthinkable!" Major Henry's face turned iron-gray, the muscles in his cheeks twisting. "Return fire! Sink that accursed pirate ship!"

  The captain's order was quickly executed, and the British Navy, known as the world's number one navy, had top-notch personnel. Before the captain gave further orders, the "Sydney" had already turned around in anger to chase after the pirates who were trying to escape. A team of reserve gunners also rushed to the front main gun, quickly operating the two massive 203mm cannons, taking aim at the Qinglong number flying the pirate flag and opening fire!

  The massive warship shook, and the muzzle of the cannon, which was almost large enough to swallow a man's head, spewed out a flame and pale white smoke. The 18-kilometer-range cannon fired two shells weighing 160 kilograms each at the sailboat that was fleeing at high speed with the help of the wind!

  "Whooshing" sounds of the shells filled the air as they hurtled towards the Qinglong. The two shells did not directly hit their target! (At this time, delayed firing mechanisms had not yet been invented, and the simultaneous launch of two shells would interfere with each other's airflow, affecting shooting accuracy.)

  The shell burst on the surface of the sea, and the "hissing" sound of the shrapnel quickly swept across the Qinglong, tearing open several large holes in the thick hull. A hapless brother was hit by a piece of shrapnel and flew backwards, heavily slamming into the middle deck from the stern...

  The British gunners apparently did not fully appreciate the speed of the wind-filled sails, and their shells all fell behind the Qinglong, splashing up a lot of water vapor and huge waves. At 6,000 yards, it was still quite difficult to score a first-round hit even in modern times. The British gunners were clearly not as professionally trained as Long Jianming, so at this point, losing face wasn't a big deal.

  However, Lieutenant Colonel Henry, the new captain of the cruiser, did not see it that way. The British Empire's Navy actually lost to pirates in a gun battle under such conditions! Such a thing happened on his own ship, as captain and as a young generation of a family with a naval tradition, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Glass was not going to tolerate it.

  "What the devil! What are those gunners doing?!" Henry slammed his cap on the chart table, abandoning his usual decorum to bellow. "Those idiots should be digging coal in some miserable hole instead of serving as proud Royal Navy gunners!"

  Perhaps the gunners heard the major's curses and hastily fired two more shells! This time, the Qinglong would not be so lucky!

  A violent explosion occurred in the middle of the Qinglong, immediately blasting this 400-ton sailing ship into two pieces. The high three masts with huge sails fell down, and the stern section had become a pile of large and small wooden debris, which was blown by the powerful shock wave to fly into the sky and fall into the sea dozens of meters away...

  He Ningfeng witnessed all this on the top of the cliff, a heart-wrenching feeling instantly spread throughout her body. There were his man and more than 10 brothers on that sailboat! She stumbled down the mountain, running frantically to save him, to save those fallen brothers...

  Long Jianming and Zhang Qiu were blown away, one after the other. By the time they managed to surface from the water's bottom, the Qing Long number was left with only a pile of broken wooden blocks floating on the sea! There was no time to indulge in any sentiments or consider what to do next; the only task now was to escape for their lives! Escaping to the Jin Long number was unrealistic; they could only hide from the warship and then swim towards the Devil's Island. Although, this place was already nearly 6 nautical miles away from the Devil's Island...

  The Golden Dragon's Jin Lao also saw the miserable state of the Blue Dragon! However, he couldn't go to rescue the old and brothers who had fallen into the water with uncertain life or death. According to the plan to lure the enemy, the Golden Dragon must fire its cannons! Firing at the warship, even if it's so far away that the shells can't even fly halfway before falling into the water, but they must fire! Only by firing can they continue to infuriate the foreigners, only by firing can they make the foreigners speed up their pursuit of the Golden Dragon, without time to care about the pirates who had fallen into the water! To increase the chances of survival for the brothers in the water and to give the brothers on Devil's Island a little more time to prepare. Of course, if they could lure the powerful foreign warship into the real devil's waters, that would be a wonderful thing to dream about!

  As expected, Major Henry was in high spirits after destroying the Qinglong. He watched from a distance as the foolish pirates fired their cannons, wasting gunpowder and iron. The young Jian Zhang decided to capture them and see what was inside their heads?!

  "Full speed ahead, give chase! Marines to the gunwales, fire on the pirates at sea!" Henry had no intention of observing any niceties like conventions when it came to dealing with pirates - they were stateless and unprotected by international law...

  "The Sydney" had by now reached its top speed of 21 knots! The massive warship was ploughing through the South China Sea in pursuit of the pirates, who were so frightened that they had even forgotten to fire their cannons and were fleeing desperately towards the southeast. The distance was narrowing, 21 knots against 12, steam power against sail - a contest without any suspense! Gradually, the island of the devils was becoming a small black dot in the eyes of the British.

  Neither the British nor the Chinese pirates would have thought that at this time a warship flying the black eagle flag was approaching Devil Island!

  This warship was the "Emden" light cruiser, which had been ordered by the German Emperor in July to leave Wilhelmshaven and hurry to the Far East to assist Britain's "brother" in suppressing pirates. At this time, the German warship happened to catch up with a great bargain!

  The Germans' raid has begun...

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